


Neil/Matt One Shot

by Artio



Category: Three Days Grace (Band)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Tumblr Prompt, matching tattoos, mention of Adam but he's not really a character so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 14:26:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2232357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artio/pseuds/Artio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "What if your OTP lived in a universe where whenever someone touches their soul mate(s) for the first time they get a matching tattoo in that spot."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neil/Matt One Shot

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't believe these dweebs got matching Painkiller tattoos so I wrote a fic about them based on this prompt from OTPprompts on Tumblr:  
> "What if your OTP lived in a universe where whenever someone touches their soul mate(s) for the first time they get a matching tattoo in that spot. And the first time person A accidentally hits person B in the face, stomach, or other weird place they get matching tattoos."  
> I only went with the first part since I didn't want to change where their tattoos actually are, but anyway.

 It was like he wasn’t even there. He didn’t even know what Brad and Matt were talking about, but whatever it was, they’d been talking about it with Neil standing there for at least three minutes. They didn’t even acknowledge him. 

 Neil felt a bit awkward interrupting the newest member of the band chatting with his older brother. Maybe Brad was giving Matt the run down of something really important. Neil honestly wasn’t paying enough attention to know. But he did know Brad had a bit of a thing for grudges when someone interrupted him. Especially since he didn’t really talk all that much. 

 Well, except for right now anyway. This was probably the most he’d seen the bassist talk outside of an interview in a year. In a way it was nice to see since he had really clammed up after Adam left. Other than talking to his family, Brad had barely said a complete sentence for weeks afterwards. But Neil would’ve appreciated them having their little discussion anywhere else but the table right now. His spare drumsticks seemed so lonely at the far end, waiting for Neil to rescue them. But rescue would basically require Neil reaching over the table right between the talking brothers, which was a bigger risk than it seemed. He didn’t need to simultaneously piss two Walsts off at the same time. If one would pause for a second and just acknowledge him he could get the spare sticks and go…

 Four minutes. It was going on four minutes of Neil standing there ignored. If he didn’t _really_ need those spares he would’ve left about three and a half minutes ago, but his habit of drumming on objects that weren’t drums had screwed him over again and he’d broken his last pair. He needed to remind himself that as cool as hard metals sound when drummed on, wooden sticks weren’t meant for that sort of thing. Or he needs to leave more spare pairs around instead of packed away with his kit; only to be brought out for sound checks or concerts. Either way, he couldn’t do anything without getting the spares first. Those spares he could practically hear at this point, calling for him to save them from the cold, forgotten end of the table.

 It must’ve been seconds away from going on five minutes when the drumstick gods smiled upon him. “You eavesdropping?” Neil thought he must’ve started hearing things, but Matt was looking suspiciously up at him. He raised an eyebrow when Neil didn’t immediately respond.

 ”Uh, no, sorry. I just need to get my drumsticks.” Neil gestured to the other end of the table. 

 ”Oh. Well shit, man. Why didn’t you say something instead of standing there for a damn year? I don’t bite unless you want me to,” Matt joked. He looked at the other end of the table, but the sticks were in a little black pocket partially buried under scattered papers. “Where are they?”

 ”They’re just right there.” Neil pointed, but Matt was the lost one now. “Here, I’ll just grab them real quick and be out of your guys’ hair.” 

 Luckily the sticks were more to Matt’s side or he’s pretty sure he would’ve lost his arm. Brad was visibly displeased that Neil had cut into their conversation. At least now he could get out of there as quick as possible the moment he had that black pouch. Matt was too busy still trying to identify where the drumsticks might be to notice his brother, or that with the way he had turned to look, his shoulder was now a bit in Neil’s path. Neil tried to reach around Matt without getting further in Brad’s way, but he still managed to accidentally brush Matt’s upper arm. 

 Neil instantly recoiled. It was like Matt’s skin was made of fire. “What the hell, man?” Matt snapped. He held his upper arm in pain and glared at Neil, who had a hand over his own forearm. What the hell was right. He felt like he had been burned, but how was that possible? He cautiously lifted his hand off what he expected to be damaged skin. Underneath was a black mark that seemed to be spreading.  _Had_  he been burned? Would burns even spread like that? He glanced at Matt, who was checking his own apparent wound. He had the same spreading black mark. 

 The scream of pain settled into something more like an overzealous muscle ache as the black continued to spread across his skin. It was like watching a moving Rorschach test. But it looked like it was starting to take some sort of shape. Neil curiously wiped at the mark, but it didn’t budge, or feel damaged at all. It wasn’t even tender like a bruise, beyond the aching that seemed to correspond with its movement. And it only took a few more seconds for even the aching to dissipate. Left in its wake was the recognizable shape of caduceus emblazoned onto his inner arm.

 Matt was still worriedly rubbing at his upper arm when Neil looked back at him. His own “wound” had also settled into a distinctive black image. In fact, it was a practically identical mark of the caduceus…

 After noticing the similarity himself, Matt harshly grabbed Neil’s wrist and pulled his arm closer. There was no mistaking, the caduceus markings were exact copies of each other, albeit a little bigger on Matt. It took a minute for the realization of what that meant to hit them. They looked at each other before turning to an equally shocked Brad for some sort of confirmation. Brad glanced back and forth at them before he got it too. 

 ”Oh no.”


End file.
